


Falling Downhill

by Chibi_Twan



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Anxiety Attacks, Dysfunctional Family, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Ghosts, Miles Morales Needs a Hug, Miles Morales Whump, Misunderstandings, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Spirit Guides, Time Travel Fix-It, miles morales-centric, spiderfam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibi_Twan/pseuds/Chibi_Twan
Summary: He knew that the others would be here. He knew that they would still show up and he’d have to destroy the collider after making sure they got home safely… only… He didn’t think seeing Peter again would suddenly make him feel so worked up over being back in the past but… what if he messed it all up? What if by coming back to the past, though it wasn’t like he did it on purpose, he somehow sealed their fate?What if by saving Peter, he killed all the others?
Relationships: Aaron Davis & Miles Morales, Jefferson Davis & Miles Morales & Rio Morales, Miles Morales & Peni Parker & Peter B. Parker & Peter Benjamin Parker & Peter Porker & Gwen Stacy
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	1. Somebody tell me what to do

**Author's Note:**

> A couple of events that happened in the movie won't happen in the same time sequence, for example; in the movie Miles met Gwen before seeing his universes Peter Parker killed, but in my story, that happened afterwards.

Being different from others wasn't a bad thing, at least he didn’t think it was, but it didn't always turn out to be all that good either.

He’s had this ability for as long as he could remember. Growing up, he thought it was something that everyone could do. That it was normal enough that no one spoke about it, like how everyone knew to look both ways before crossing the street. It was an unspoken knowledge. Which was why when he saw figures standing in the middle of the street, or out in an alleyway, the park, his school and even at the police station, he would wave to them. Despite how their, almost see-through, appearances scared him especially as he remembered the haunting looks in their eyes the moment he laid down in his bed. No one said anything about it. His mom would chuckle at him and his dad would grin before they went on with their day. Sometimes his parents’ coworkers would stare at him oddly, and the one time Miles went to work with his mom he was waiting by the nurse’s station when an older man came over and sat next to him. At first, Miles didn’t say a word, after all, he knew better than to talk to strangers, but then he noticed how everyone was ignoring the man and how sad he looked.

So, Miles asked him if he was alright.

The shocked look the man gave him left Miles feeling angry at everyone else for ignoring the man but he pushed that anger to the side. It was fine, if no one else wanted to talk to him then Miles would. He spent the rest of his mom’s shift sitting there and talking with the man. The more they talked, the more the man seemed to tire.

Miles wasn’t sure what was going on but as the man continued telling him about his family, about his grandkids and how he used to be in the army. The man, whose name he learned was Ricky, kept growing transparent to the point where Miles could only see a faint outline of him anymore.

The moment Ricky vanished altogether, Miles panicked. 

He quickly ran over to the nurses’ desk and pleaded with them to help him find Ricky. For some reason, they laughed. They laughed at him as he had tears building up in his eyes. When his mom came rushing over to him, asking him what happened, what was wrong, Miles held onto her and cried as he explained how Ricky disappeared. Seeing how frantic he was, the other nurses finally quieted down, one of them walked over to both of them and whispered into his mom’s ear.

Miles heard it regardless, “He was sitting there talking to an imaginary friend for most of your shift. He kept calling him Ricky and I guess he just… stopped picturing him there?” 

After that his mom took him home, she bundled him up in the thick comforter from his bedroom and sat next to him on the couch as they watched random shows. They stayed out there until Miles’ head grew heavy and he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.

That was the last time his mom forced him to stay at the hospital with her when both her and dad had the night shift. Instead, after hearing the loud argument his parents had, Miles began going over to Uncle Aaron’s house anytime his parents weren’t home. Something that was becoming more frequent the older he became.

Uncle Aaron was awesome! He didn’t look at Miles weirdly if he started talking to any of his friends. Sometimes they didn’t talk back but since they always followed him or showed up around him, Miles considered each of them his friend. Though a couple of them were really mean. The only time his Uncle Aaron tried talking to him about it was when Miles was seven years old and staying the night at his apartment.

Everything was fine until Miles was woken up by Jayden. 

Jayden was this eighteen-year-old that started coming to Miles a year ago. Despite being older, Jayden didn’t mind listening to Miles ramble, he didn’t care when Miles watched childish TV shows with him either. So when Miles was woken up by Jayden calling out to him, he smiled sleepily and crawled off of Uncle Aaron’s large bed. He told Uncle Aaron he was fine with sleeping on the couch but Uncle Aaron told Miles he didn’t have a say in the matter. So while Miles slept in the too-large bed, his Uncle Aaron was the one who slept out on the couch.

His smile vanished when he saw the tears in Jayden's eyes.

"Jay?" Miles blinked, "Jay what's wrong?"

_"I… I need to go Miles."_

“Go? Go where?”

_“I-I’m… not sure?” Jayden crouched down so that he was now eye to eye with Miles, “Remember how you found my little sister and talked to her for me? How you hugged my mom and told her that I loved her?”_

He did remember. It was the first time he ever walked off without telling his parents where he was going. They had been at the store, getting groceries when Miles saw Jayden standing in the middle of the street. Miles snuck out of the store when his mom wasn't looking and stood out on the sidewalk. Staring at Jayden until he realized that Miles was looking at him. After that the conversation between them steadily grew until Jayden was pleading with Miles to go find his family. Miles didn’t even hesitate before following Jayden’s directions to his house until hours later, after somehow convincing Jayden’s sister and his mother that he was there on account of Jayden wanting him to be there when the cops showed up.

Jayden’s mom called the police claiming to have found Miles walking outside of her house. Miles couldn’t understand why she lied but Jayden told him to trust her, so Miles did. In the end, his dad and mom both showed up at the house, crying and hugging him so tightly that Miles felt as though he couldn’t breathe.

After that, it became part of the family rulebook to always say I love you to one another when going out, no matter what.

_“Miles?”_

Miles blinked, “I remember Jay. Your mom was really nice, she gave hugs just like my Mami and Emilia kept telling me to tell you that she loves you-”

_“Yeah,” Jayden smiled sadly, “You… You did a lot for me, Miles. It may have only been a year but you… you’re an amazing little brother, you know that right?”_

Miles bit his lip, his face flushing as something deep within him clenched, “J-Jay?”

_“I love you, Miles, don’t you ever forget that. You hear me?”_

He couldn’t speak. It felt as though somebody had wrapped their hands around his throat and were slowly squeezing until he could barely breathe let alone speak. His hands shook as he struggled to lift his head and meet Jayden’s eyes. Miles shook his head, blinking rapidly to remove the blurriness from his vision.

Breaths coming in little gasps, Miles fought to speak only the ability evaded him. He couldn’t say a word, not as Jayden slowly began to fade away, not when all he could hear was the sound of rushing water filling his head and not even as he fell to his knees as his legs grew too weak to support him.

He didn’t say it back.

He didn’t get to tell Jayden that he loved him too. He didn’t get to tell him how he grew to be the big brother that Miles had always dreamed of having. He couldn’t ask him to stay. If not for him then at least for Emilia, Miles didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.

Distantly, he could hear the bedroom door opening and his uncle Aaron calling out to him. He could hear his uncle's footsteps as he moved towards him, he could feel the way his uncle knelt down next to him and grabbed him by the shoulders but he couldn't do a thing about it. His heart thudding loudly in his chest, Miles couldn't slow his breathing or calm down quickly enough to speak.

Aaron moved so that he was sitting down and was able to pull Miles into his lap, "Miles, Miles come on bud. You need to breathe okay? Take a deep breath for me, Miles." 

Miles burrowed his head against Aaron's chest, his breath coming out in sharp gasps as his vision blurred due to the tears building up.

"Shhh, it's okay bud. I got you, you're alright."

Frantically Miles shook his head. 

He wasn't alright nothing, nothing about this was alright. Jay was _gone_. Just like Ricky and now that he thought back on it disappearing is probably what happened to that little girl he used to see in the park by his house.

"Was it a nightmare? Miles?"

Sniffling, Miles croaked out, "N-No… they're gone. All… all of them, t-they disappeared!"

"Miles? Miles what are you talking about? What's gone?"

Biting his lip, Miles stayed quiet. Instead of speaking, Miles stayed silent as he curled up in his uncle's lap completely, ignoring him as he tried to ask what was wrong. That night was the first time Miles ever cried himself to sleep, it was also the first time Miles ever saw his uncle so panicked over him, since then uncle Aaron avoided mentioning that night entirely. It wasn’t until later that year, in the summer, that his Abuela waited until his parents left the house during one of her visits to tell him the truth.

She knew he had the gift of being a “Guía espiritual,”. Some sort of spirit guide. 

At first Miles assumed she was joking, the two of them were always planning pranks for the rest of the family so he thought that she was just trying to get him for once. Then he remembered how no one else could see what he saw. He could remember how uncle Aaron didn't see Jayden disappear, how none of the nurses knew about Ricky, and how no one ever saw the people he talked to or hear what they would say to him.

That was the first time Miles ever realized just how… different he was from everyone else. 

By the time he was eight years old, Miles knew better than to talk to any… any spirits in front of others, he kept his status as some sort of spirit guide a secret. A secret so well-hidden beneath one lie after another that eventually, Miles forgot that sometimes, it would be okay, to tell the truth. He wouldn’t realize that perhaps seeing spirits would come in handy until years later.

* * *

Ever since the incident with the collider, it seemed as though all crime in New York skyrocketed. There was a high chance of it being due to the original Spider-man’s death being broadcasted for the world to see, but that really didn’t change the fact that Miles was left to deal with it all on his own. The citizens of New York were all thankful for his help, but that didn’t mean they were all accepting of a new Spider-Man when the last one was only just put to rest. Of course, he had Peter and his Uncle Aaron by his side for most of his fights against criminals in the past few weeks, shouting out encouragement and advice from the sidelines. 

That didn't make it any easier. 

After all, Peter was still angry with his uncle, he clearly didn't trust him either. While his uncle apparently hated Peter for dragging Miles into the Superheroing business, he’d been tempted to ask him why it bothers him so much but he managed to convince himself not to. They could never agree on a topic and their constant arguing turned screaming matches were distracting enough to the point that it resulted in him losing his focus during a fight on more than one occasion. Plus there was the fact that Miles never let on that he could see their spirits. It was hard. Especially during the nights where his dreams got to be too much, and during Aaron’s funeral… Miles wanted to talk to them, he wanted to tell them how sorry he was for not being able to save them.

The amount of guilt he felt about not knowing how to help them move on was enough to keep him from getting out of bed most days.

Once he realized who Aaron was, Peter had a habit of yelling at Aaron at the worst times and somehow with all the words thrown from one to the other it always came down to one topic.

How his uncle was the Prowler and not only killed people before but had almost killed Miles without a second thought. Constantly being reminded of what his uncle did and how close he came to actually getting killed by him always left Miles gasping for air, this time was no different. Immediately Peter and Aaron both turned their attention towards him, Miles could remember how the first time this happened they both panicked thinking that it was due to an injury he kept hidden, but Miles couldn't handle seeing both of them. Not now, not at the moment when all he could remember was how he lost uncle Aaron in that Alleyway, the memory replaying over and over again in his mind. He’d been killed because Miles just had to go and show him his face. Aaron died because he didn’t kill him.

Stumbling backward on the rooftop, Miles quickly leaped over the side in order to get away from them.

Swinging through the streets of New York back to his dorm room passed by in a blur. Miles stopped paying attention to the world around him as he focused on getting back to his room. His chest was still heaving with the effort to slow his breathing but flying through the air helped. Usually, when he went to his dorm room Aaron and Peter would leave him alone, he just hoped that it would be the same for tonight. They had a habit of staying too close when they noticed him panicking, though he tried his best to hide it. Miles knew he had something like PTSD before the nightmares and the panic attacks even started. He knew he had it the moment he heard that sickening crunch echo throughout the area as Kingpin literally squished Peter like a bug.

He hated not knowing how to handle it.

He had assumed that the reason why his Spidey senses kept going off was because of his panic attack, he didn't realize that something was actually wrong until it was too late.

It all started with an itch. Gradually working its way throughout his entire body until it felt as though fire ants were marching beneath his skin.

It happened while he was slinging from one rooftop to the next, a few blocks from the academy, Miles tried not to pay attention to what was going on, focusing more so on trying to control his panicking and keep from falling to his death, it wasn't until he was back in his dorm room and kept glitching that he realized just what was happening to him.

It made no sense.

Panting heavily, Miles glanced over at Peter who was just on his way in through the window when he saw what was happening. Turns out that they didn't plan on leaving him alone tonight. Panicking, Miles just barely managed to rush into the bathroom before Ganke could notice anything was wrong. Sure Ganke may have known that he was the new Spider-Man but that didn’t mean they suddenly became best friends, though they were getting there. Peter raced in after him and out of the corner of his eye Miles could see how Aaron materialized into the bathroom with them. He stumbled across the tile flooring somehow managing to make it to the sink and turn on the water before he glitched again. The effort to keep standing left him wheezing, that weird high pitched sort of wheeze he did that one time he had the flu and couldn’t breathe properly.

_“Miles? Hey Parker, what the hell is going on with him?!”_

_“H-He’s glitching, just like the other’s did but I don’t… I don’t know why. The collider was destroyed!”_

It hurt. The pain hit him out of nowhere and It hurt worse than anything he's ever felt before. A strangled yelp tore its way out of his throat as he struggled to keep standing. Was this what it was like for the others? It's been 2 months since the incident with Kingpin and the collider almost destroying New York. He misses them, all of them, not a moment goes by when he isn't wondering if they're okay. Sure his first impressions of them weren't exactly... good. In all honesty, they were all just… _mean_ but he knew it was because they were all worried. They were trapped in a different dimension for God's sake. In the end, they all turned out to be pretty alright.

At least… he knew he was okay with them. He wouldn't mind seeing them again but… who knows how they felt about him. They all seemed pretty relieved to see him when he showed up during the fight with Doc Ock and King Pin.

Gritting his teeth, Miles was forced out of his thoughts as a spasm of pain swept over him. He bit his lip to keep from crying out. His entire body was distorted in different colors, each one overlapping the other, the intensity behind them bright enough to give him a headache.

_“Miles!”_

“Come on,” Miles gasped as the pain only intensified, “C-Come on!” 

Why was this happening to him? This was his universe, Kingpin's machine was destroyed, the goober along with it. His spidey-sense hadn’t been going off and he hadn’t seen any portals popping up in New York, even if there were portals still here he would’ve sensed them, right?

Knocking on the bathroom door startled him badly enough that Miles ended up tripping and falling backward into the tub with a loud bang. The curses that left both his uncle’s and Peter’s mouths would’ve had Miles giggling had it been any other day.

"Miles! Dude are you okay in there?!"

"I-I'm fine!" Miles held a hand over his mouth as he gagged. 

He had meant to call out loudly enough for Ganke to hear him, to assure him everything was okay, but the moment he opened his mouth to call out, he found the words rushing out in a strangled scream as his body twitched in pain. The sudden urge to throw up appearing out of nowhere. He curled up on his side with a hand pressed against his mouth, not even bothering to climb out of the tub as it felt like all his energy was being sapped out of him. This was getting out of control, and he had no idea how to stop it.

There was some sort of odd noise coming from the other side of the door. It sounded as though Ganke was shoving something into the doorknob. Blearily Miles wondered why Ganke apparently knew how to pick a lock. Just as he could hear the creaking of the bathroom door opening, the all too familiar sight of a portal opened just above him. 

_“Miles move!”_

_“Miles!”_

The Swirling Vortex of bright colors immediately giving him a migraine. The pain building up behind his eyes to the point where he had to clench them shut.

He wanted it to stop. He needed it to _stop_.

Just like that, as the portal slowly began to descend on him, the pain stopped and with it so did Peter and Aaron's voices. For a moment, his heart stopped. Not once since they died did Peter or Aaron leave his side when he was conscious. He knew that sometimes they went off to do their own thing, but they were both oddly intent on haunting him, even speaking to him when they believed he couldn’t hear them.

Miles knew that they wouldn’t just disappear on him, not now when something so strange was happening. Not when he needed them.

The bathroom door flung open and before Miles could even try to look over at Ganke, the world around him vanished and then all he could see was color. Bright colors that seemed to pulse in the air around him, surging in from all directions. The intensity gradually increased until Miles couldn’t see anything other than white.

After that, absolutely nothing.

* * *

This… this had to be a dream. 

Miles glanced around him, the all too familiar scenery hitting him like a freight train. He had to be asleep, there was no way this was actually happening… There was a portal. He knows there was, and he’d been in the bathroom, Ganke was coming in and… that’s all he could remember. Gwen mentioned arriving in his universe weeks before any of the others but… there’s no way he was in the past. 

Unless… he was?

Miles stared at the destruction around him, Fisk had started up the collider but it didn’t work, not entirely, but he knew that they would keep trying until they managed to succeed. At least he had a general idea of how long he had until Fisk tried again. Miles could remember how just before the explosion Peter had been right in the middle of it with Green Goblin pushing him into the beam of light.

He couldn’t let Spider-man die. Not again. Not if he really did have a chance to change things.

Scrambling to his feet, Miles stumbled over the debris, slowly making his way towards where a pained gasping coming from off to his right. Even if his mom wasn’t a nurse, Miles still would’ve been able to tell that breathing like that was more of a telling of how close Peter is to dying then the man’s actual words. Miles could hear his heart beating, the sound being the only noise bar Peter’s wheezing and Miles’ own labored breathing.

He could only imagine how hard it was for Peter to breathe in all of this smoke, and dust.

Finally, Finally, managing to find Peter, Miles froze as he took in how he was laying there, stuck under slabs of concrete. It was only as Peter made an odd noise, some mix of a yelp and a whimper, that Miles rushed over to him. He made sure to avoid the Green Goblin, he didn’t know if he was dead or not but Miles didn’t want to risk getting too close.

“Hey,” Miles gulped, “A-Are you okay?”

Sure, he was so far out of his depth that Miles had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but he knew that despite the man’s assurances that he was fine, that he always gets back up again, nothing about the situation was okay. Spider-Man, Peter, still hasn’t moved and the voices were getting closer. Miles knew how this was going to end, which was why he carefully pocketed the goober that Peter held out to him, but instead of taking off as Peter wanted him too, Miles stayed.

Even with part of his face still covered by the mask, Miles could see past the pain-filled grimace Peter wore, he could see how worried the man actually was.

“Promise me…” Miles’ eyes darted up to Peter’s, “You have to promise…”

Miles nodded his head, his relief shown clearly on his face, Peter let his arm fall down. Miles’ stomach twisted as he realized just how little strength Peter had left in him.

“Kid… go. You need to go,” Peter’s eyes widened, a tint of desperation leaking into his voice as the sound of footsteps grew closer, “Please, you need to go. I can handle myself, I’ll be fi-”

“You’re going to die.” 

The utter conviction in Miles’ voice was enough to render Peter speechless. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Miles quickly grasps the largest debris covering Peter’s legs and pushes against it. Even with his super strength, the debris did not move easily. Miles palms scraped against the concrete, the sharp edges piercing through his skin. Eventually, it gives way, the debris sliding across the ground as Miles pushes it further away from Peter.

Peter who was oddly quiet despite having been protesting Miles sticking around just moments before.

“Find him. Now!”

“No… nonono,” Miles quickly pushed as much of the larger pieces of concrete out of the way before fumbling to slide one arm under Peter’s thighs and the other behind his back. 

It took a bit of manipulation but somehow Miles managed to move Peter over his shoulder with one hand holding onto him tightly. Miles knew this position was probably causing more pain to Peter’s more than likely broken ribs, but it was the safest and most sturdy position he could think of.

He didn't hesitate in scrambling up one of the broken beams in order to reach the opening a few levels up. Miles could hear Fisk yelling at his men, he could hear how nervous they all were and how they tried to appease him by assuring him that they could get the collider up and running again soon.

"Prowler!" 

Miles' eyes widened as Fisk called out for his uncle, he should keep moving. Now is his chance to get out of there, to make sure that Peter was safe. Only… his uncle was down there. Here his uncle was still _alive_. He wanted to see him.

"Find him!" Fisk snarled, his voice echoing throughout the area, "I don't care how you do it but I want Spider-Man found. I want you to bring his body back to me and you make sure that he suffers! Do you understand me?!"

No. No-nonono! He can't stay here. It wasn't safe. Despite how he felt Miles knew that no matter what, he had to make sure that he got Peter out of there alive. Gritting his teeth, Miles forced his body to move faster. Faster than he’s ever gone before.

He could still hear Fisk and his men, he could hear Prowler-uncle Aaron taking off, probably searching for Spiderman, but Miles ignored all of the noise in order to focus on getting out and away from them all. At the moment, the only place that Miles could think of that would be safe to take Peter to would be his Aunt May’s only… What was he supposed to tell them? Hey, sorry for the sudden visit but your nephew almost died, there’s a chance he still might so I’m dropping him off?

_“Thank you.”_

“Whoa!” Startled, Miles skidded to a stop. 

Gently kneeling on the rooftop, Miles maneuvered Peter so that he was lying flat on the ground. He glanced at Peter’s face and frowned as he realized that Peter was still unconscious… 

Peering around the rooftop, Miles was only slightly startled to see an older man kneeling down across from him, staring down at Peter.

“Uh, hello?” Miles cleared his throat.

The man’s head snapped up, his eyes immediately zoning in on Miles.

_“Son, who are you talking to?”_

“I’m talking… to you. Sorry, I know this is probably weird-”

_“You can see me?”_

Miles grinned at the man, feeling some of the night’s tension draining away, “Yes sir. I… I’ve always been able to see… uh, well spirits.”

When the man proceeded to stay where he was, not saying another word, Miles’ smile dropped. He should’ve known better than to think the man wanted to speak to him. If his hunch was right then the guy was probably more concerned with Peter’s injuries then worrying about some kid that could see him.

Shifting so that he was in a more comfortable position, Miles gently began running his hands over Peter’s torso and limbs. He could feel the weight of the man’s eyes boring into him but Miles ignored it in favor of searching for any serious injuries Peter had. Miles couldn’t help but hissed in sympathy as he pressed his fingers against Peter’s chest, feeling the multiple breaks in his ribcage.

“Broken ribs… okay. Uh,” Miles pulled off his hoodie, showing no hesitation as he quickly tore the fabric apart.

His mom was going to kill him. He couldn’t exactly say that he tore his new hoodie to pieces but telling her that he lost it wouldn’t be much better.

He made a makeshift cushion out of his undershirt, leaving him in just a tank top as he took the two long strips of fabric and used them to tie the cushion against Peter’s chest. Miles tightened them just enough to leave a gentle yet firm pressure on Peter’s ribs, hoping that it would be enough to keep them from shifting around before they could get to Aunt May’s house.

_“I know we can’t take him to the hospital… but it’s moments like this I wish we could,”_

Miles briefly glanced up at the man before returning his attention to Peter. There wasn't much else he could do about Peter's ribs but he could try and set his shoulders, he just hoped that seeing his mom set someone's dislocated shoulder years ago was enough of a reference for him to do it right.

_“Lord knows May would prefer an actual doctor seeing him,” The man chuckled, “Even as a kid Peter hated going to the doctors, May and I would always have to take care of any injuries or illnesses ourselves unless it became too much of a health risk for him.”_

“You, uh… Were the both of you close?”

_“Peter’s my nephew, I helped raise him up until… well, you know.”_

Miles’ jaw dropped, “You’re… You’re Peter’s uncle Ben?”

_The man smiled sadly, "The one and only."_

“I-” Miles looked away as he cleared his throat, “I… need to set his shoulders… uh, after… after I drop him off at Aunt May’s- Er, I mean Mrs. Parkers, I can, I can talk to you?”

_“I think us having a talk is in order, but for now you do whatever it is you need to do. Also, you can call her Aunt May, I know she wouldn’t mind.”_

Nodding his head, Miles set to work. This was going to be a long night… 

* * *

Okay, so the original Spiderman was temporarily out of commission. That was fine.

MJ was going to go into hiding with him until he fully healed. Although he wished that they would have come up with a different solution, Miles knew that it was for the best. With almost all of his ribs busted, a sprained wrist, both his arms dislocated, and his leg broken on top of a serious concussion, it was for the best if Peter stayed hidden so he could have time to heal. 

At least he did set his shoulders the right way, he'd been worried that he messed it up.

Miles had hoped that Peter would have at least woken up before he left but Mary Jane and Aunt May both assured him that he was going to be okay. While both of them did try to convince Miles to stay or to at least explain what happened before he left, but it was already nearing three in the morning and Miles knew he had to get going. It was why he quickly blurted out to them that he had the same abilities as Spider-Man and for them not to worry because he would make sure to finish what Peter started. He left even though Uncle Ben kept trying to get him to stay.

Aunt May offered to look at his injuries but if he was being honest with himself Miles couldn't even feel them. 

Sure his accelerated healing didn't seem to have kicked in yet, but because the adrenaline rush had yet to fade he still wasn't fully aware of the pain in his hands. Though seeing the torn skin and the blood on them did make him feel unsettled.

He had more important things to worry about.

Landing on the rooftop of an apartment complex a couple of blocks from where Peter would’ve been buried, Miles squatted down by a couple of pipes. He'd have to remember to give Peter back his web shooter once he was healed...

Miles could handle Kingpin… he's done it once before so it was… it was fine. All he had to do was somehow figure out where all the other Spider-Man's were and somehow convince Gwen that he wasn't crazy. Because he ended up not going back to the school in order to stay later at Aunt May's house he knew it’d be best if he just didn’t go to classes tomorrow. Well, later today since it was already morning. Although, that means he wouldn’t get the chance to actually meet Gwen. Though that might be a good thing because at least that meant now he didn't end up ripping over half of her hair out. If anything he could always try and introduce himself to her later.

He wasn't sure where to find Peni, Noir or Ham. Aunt May didn't mention any of them so they probably didn't show up in his universe just yet. Or maybe they did and Aunt May just chose not to tell him? Her and MJ did seem wary of him when he showed up with Peter slung over his shoulders.

A faint tingling of his spidey-sense, had Miles tensing up as he tried to figure out what exactly it was trying to warn him of.

"Hey kid…" 

He was startled out of his thoughts as someone's hand clamped down onto his shoulder.

"Ahh!" Miles flung his hand out, pushing back at whoever grabbed onto him.

The man immediately flew back, it was only due to his shooting web out at Miles that the man didn’t go falling fully over the edge of the roof. Miles just barely managed to keep himself from skidding across the rooftop, standing perfectly still as he pulled on the webbing to pull the man back onto the roof, a safe distance from the edge.

It was… Peter? Peter B. Parker. Miles’s eyes grew twice their size as he realized how not once but twice now he's accidentally electrocuted Spider-Man.

"Oh man… crap. Crap! Are you okay?" Miles crouched down next to Peter's head, "Uh… P-Spider-Man? You… you alright?"

He was out cold.

“Oooh,” Miles groaned, “Why does this keep happening to me?”

It was _late_. He needed to get back to his dorm, he knew without a doubt that Ganke would’ve noticed his absence by now. Hopefully, none of the security guards noticed… This time around, Miles wanted to avoid any unnecessary issues with anyone at Visions Academy.

Lifting Peter by his shoulders, Miles dragged him over towards the other side of the roof and sat down next to him. 

The least he could do was wait there for Peter to wake up, at least this time there wouldn’t be any reports of a kid dressed as Spider-man lugging around a hobo’s corpse.

Sighing, Miles settled down next to Peter, waiting for him to regain consciousness.

It was as though the moment that first tear inched its way down his cheek, the entire dam broke loose. Miles sat down with his back to the roof’s edge and his knees pulled up tight against his chest with his arms wrapped around them. He wasn’t even sure why he started crying in the first place… 

He knew that the others would be here. He knew that they would still show up and he’d have to destroy the collider after making sure they got home safely… only… He didn’t think seeing Peter again would suddenly make him feel so worked up over being back in the past but… what if he messed it all up? What if by coming back to the past, though it wasn’t like he did it on purpose, he somehow sealed their fate? 

What if by saving Peter, he killed all the others? 

He couldn’t let them die, but Miles couldn’t just stand back and watch someone else die either. Not again. He saved his universe’s Spider-man… he could save uncle Aaron too, and if it came down to it, Miles would rather he be the one to die then any of the others. Well, he didn’t necessarily want to die but… he wouldn’t go out of the way to save himself if it meant he could save everyone else instead.

Hearing a low groan coming from his left, Miles flinched and jerked away from the noise.

His hand came up to wipe at his eyes as he jumped to his feet. Peter groaned once more as his eyelids fluttered. Blearily opening his eyes Peter’s gaze immediately sought out Miles and Miles tried not to look away.

“You… you’re just like me?” Peter slurred, “...The hell did you do to me kid?”

“Uh,” Miles cleared his throat, debating for a moment on whether or not he should try lowering his voice but decided against it, “I… I shocked you? I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

Peter frowned, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position, waving away Miles’ offered hand as he turned towards him. Miles shifted from leaning his weight on one leg to the next.

"What do you mean you shocked me?" 

Peter slowly got to his feet and Miles was struck by how similar yet different this Peter was to his universe's Peter. 

Miles swallowed, "I… I can… shock people? Sometimes? It's… it's one of the things I can do."

"You-? You electrocuted me… with your hands. O-okay. Shocking people is apparently a thing then." Peter shook his head, "That's just… great. That's great, kid."

"...Are you okay?"

Peter groaned, rubbing his hand over his face, "I'm fine kid. Nothing like a bit of electricity to wake me up."

_"Who is he? He looks… he looks just like my Peter."_

Miles forced himself not to glance over at uncle Ben, "Who are you?" 

Peter sighed, "I'm Peter Parker."

"No, you look like Peter Parker," Miles shrugged, "But your hair's a different color, you're older and… yeah."

"Listen, I'm not _your_ Peter Parker but I am Peter Parker.'

"Are you a ghost?"

"No." 

"A zombie?" Miles hedged.

Peter rolled his eyes, "No. Listen, stop it. You aren't even close."

Miles leaned back against the rooftop entrance, "Are you from another dimension? Like a parallel universe where things are like this universe but different? And you're Spider-Man in that universe? But you somehow traveled to this universe but you don't know how?"

"Wow," Peter shot him a startled look, "That was really just a guess?"

_"I think you surprised him." Uncle Ben chuckled lightly._

Miles shrugged, "We learned about it in physics."

Which he did just… not in this universe's timeline?

"Quantum theory."

"So…" Miles bit his lower lip, "What are you planning on doing now?"

"I'm going to find a way to get back home." Peter turned and walked to the edge of the roof, "Bye kid."

"Wait!" Miles called out, but it was too late, Peter had already fired a web and slung off of the rooftop.

A wave of horror washed over him as Peter started to glitch mid-air. Miles took off running, leaping off the side of the building and using the borrowed web shooter to shoot a web at Peter before wrapping that around his arm and then sending another web back at the building.

Miles yanked on the web, Peter came soaring towards him at the same time they began swinging back towards the building.

They were moving too fast.

Realizing this, Miles turned so that his back was to the building while he opened his arms as wide as he could to catch Peter. Peter slammed into him, the air was knocked out of him, Miles barely had time to wrap his arms around Peter before they crashed into a balcony on the building. They laid there for a few seconds before Peter stopped glitching and rolled off of Miles.

"I don't think my atoms are real jazzed about being in the wrong dimension," Peter muttered, pushing himself to his knees, "That was a nice catch kid, than- shit. Shit. You're bleeding."

Blinking, Miles followed Peter's gaze and glanced down at his arm where there was a long cut on his forearm. Blood was already starting to ooze out. He looked over at the balcony and saw how the metal had bent from them crashing into it. One particularly sharp part shining from the bit of blood it had on it.

"Well, thank God I had my tetanus shot." 

"Why aren't you healing?" Peter frowned, "Don't you have super healing? You can heal fast can't you?"

"Uh… not at the moment?" Miles tried sitting up but hissed at the jolt of pain moving brought him.

"Crap. Don't move. Don't move, let me look at your back." Peter rushed over and crouched down next to Miles, gently lifting the back of his tank top up.

_"Your back is already bruising pretty badly," uncle Ben kneeled down in front of Miles, "Don't go moving, alright?"_

Peter lowered the tank top, sitting down on the ground next to Miles, "You said not at the moment, does that mean you're going to start healing later, it just takes more time?"

"Uhh, probably? I mean I know it's one of the abilities Spider-Man has and I have most of his abilities in the first place." Miles grimaced as he accidentally moved to look at Peter.

"But you don't know if you have the same healing ability as me. There's a chance you can't heal quickly kid," Peter sighed, "You can electrocute people. What if you got that ability instead of healing? I definitely can't shock people."

Miles could only shrug, a pitiful attempt at shrugging, in response.

"I need to get you to the hospital. How the he-heck did you hurt your hands?"

"No!" Miles yelled, "We cannot go to a hospital. People would ask questions and you look too much like Peter for it to be a coincidence. Look I'm fine!"

Peter gave him a dry look, "You are not fine."

"Yes I am." Miles insisted.

"You can't even move!"

Gritting his teeth, Miles forced his body to move. Slowly getting to his feet and shrugging off Peter's hands trying to push him back down.

"See? I'm… I'm fine." Miles said, breathing heavily once he managed to fully get to his feet.

"This is why I never had kids," Peter shook his head, "Are all teenagers like you? Was I this stubborn?"

_"Yes. Peter was one of the most stubborn kids I'd ever met. Though I have to admit you're certainly giving him a run for his money. I said not to move!"_

Miles sent uncle Ben an apologetic look before refocusing on Peter, "I promise I'm fine. Besides, I'm moving right? If I didn't have at least some kind of healing factor then I shouldn't have been able to move."

“You… you’re an idiot.”

“Hey!”


	2. Chapter 2

Neither of them spoke at first, Peter stayed crouched down next to Miles, and Miles tried his best not to move any more than he had to. The pain was easing up, but his back still really hurt, and lifting Peter made the injuries on his hand’s sting. At least the cut on his arm already stopped bleeding freely, there was still a bit of blood popping up to the surface, but none of it was sliding down his arm, so he assumed it wasn't too bad.

“Look, I’m not looking for a side gig as a Spider-Man coach. I got a lot going on in my dimension, like a lot.” Peter insisted once Miles showed he was able to sit up without endangering himself.

Miles sighed, “I’m not asking you to teach me. I haven’t even hinted at wanting that!”

_ "Now, now. How about instead of arguing, you two head on over to May's house and get yourselves checked out." _

Miles frowned, trying to remain subtle as he slowly shook his head at Uncle Ben's suggestion.

“Then why stick around, Kid? You could’ve just left me on the roof alone.”

“Well, first off,” Miles frowned, “Maybe I have a shred of common courtesy and wanted to make sure you’re okay! Also, you’re not from here. I’m guessing you came from the supercollider.”

“Wait for just a second, go back. What did you just say?”

“I said I have common courtesy,” Miles repeated dryly.

“Who cares about that? Where’s the collider?”

“In Brooklyn. It’s under Fisk Tower.”

Peter immediately stands up and starts walking down the side of the building. Miles struggles to get to his feet. He ends up having to take a moment to steady his breathing and try not to pass out. the way this conversation was going was all too familiar to him. He knew that there was a slim chance of convincing Peter not to go off on his own, but he hoped that he could at least find a way to get him to head to Aunt May's house instead. Miles couldn't really focus on the conversation. Instead, his mind was racing as he tried to figure out why everything seemed to be happening so fast. It's only been a few hours, and already they were at the point where a few days at least should have passed like in the original timeline. All of this was just too confusing for him. He was 99% positive that this was still his universe, and not one that was oddly similar, and going through the same situation he'd already been through. This had to be his past, only he's barely done anything, and everything is already so different.

"W-Where are you going?" Miles stumbled, biting his lip to keep from crying out as he slid down the side of the building before regaining his footing. God, his back was killing him.

"When it runs again, I’ll just jump in and get back to my life."

Peter doesn't even hesitate as he continues walking down, not once glancing back at Miles, and that more than anything else hurts the most. Peter knew he was injured… was he really planning on just leaving him there by himself?

"You can’t let them run it. Everyone’s gonna die if we just let Kingpin turn the collider on. We can still send you home, but it has to be quick."

Peter scoffs, "Or everyone’s going to die. That is what they always say, but there’s always a little bit of time before everybody dies, and that’s when I do my best work."

"Just listen to me!" Miles snaps, "Man, come on! I know you want to get back home and everything, but I can't just let you put New York at risk."

"Kid, you don't even know what-"

"Would you stop calling me kid? My name is Miles!"

"Fine. Miles. Either way, you're still young. Take my advice, just go back to being a regular kid while you still have the chance.” Peter finally stopped, down on the sidewalk now, and turned to glance up at Miles.

_ “He’s scared.” _

Miles smiles sadly, “Peter, it’s okay. Really! I’m honestly terrified, but I still want to help. I am going to help, no matter what. I have the power to help… why wouldn’t I?”

"You are a kid-!"

"So were you, and so was the Peter Parker of this universe."

_ "You got him there," Uncle Ben chuckles, "You both need to stay safe, though." _

"Besides, aren’t you going to need this?" Miles pulls the goober out from his pocket, "I got this from this universe's Spider-Man. He called it an override key for the supercollider. If we just rework the programming, instead of just shutting down the supercollider, we can also send you home.  _ Without  _ endangering my world."

Peter hesitates, "... Why do you know so much about this?"

"I'm not just some stupid kid, you know." Miles grins crooked, "Come on, man, I'll treat you this something to eat, and then we can head out."

"I'm the adult here. Shouldn't I be the one treating you?"

"Do you have any money?"

"... Touché."

* * *

“Oh my god,” Peter mumbles around his burger, “I love this burger. So delicious, one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. In my universe, this place closed six years ago. I don’t know why. I really don’t.”

Miles grins at him as the waitress comes over with the check, setting it down by Peter’s elbow, but Miles reaches across the table to grab it. He had to make sure to use his uninjured arm since he didn't have a long sleeve top on; he had to keep his other arm down by his side so that the poorly done bandages were out of sight. Peter had to sacrifice a thin yet long score if he had bundled up in his sweatpants pocket. She frowns at Peter in disapproval before smiling at Miles softly.

“Are you the one paying, sweetheart?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Miles says politely, “Uncle Peter paid last time, so my dad lent me the cash to pay this time since he’s babysitting me while dad’s at work.”

He wasn’t sure why; they had more important things to worry about, but seeing the look that the waitress had been giving Peter angered him. He knew it wasn't just because it was Peter that was getting that look from her either. He hated it when people made assumptions without knowing anything. By now, it was late enough in the morning that at least his lie came across as reasonable.

“Of course! When you’re all set, just head up to the counter to pay.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Do what?” Miles asked, confused, but Peter shook his head instead of answering, “Anyway, you ready to head out?”

“Where are we going?”

"I figured we should check out what my Peter has on the goober."

Peter seemed surprised, "You call it a Goober too?"

"Uh, yeah. Peter was complaining about the override key, but he also called it a goober. I guess it just kind of stuck." Miles lied, quickly getting up to go pay the bill.

Once the bill was paid and Peter got a to-go bag for the few burgers he hadn't eaten, Miles led the way to the nearest bus stop.

For the most part, Miles thought he was doing a pretty good job, not outwardly panicking.

Sure his mind was currently a jumbled mess, and he couldn't focus on any one thought, but he was able to secure their bus seats quickly enough. Peter didn't seem like he wanted to talk, and for that, Miles was silently relieved. He needed a couple of minutes of quiet to think and sort his thoughts.

The timeline was definitely not the same. Everything was progressing at a much faster rate than last time, and Miles had no clue what to do about it.

On the bright side, this meant that he could send all the others home quicker; they wouldn't have to go through the pain of glitching as much.

A bonus was that he didn't fight Uncle Aaron yet. It didn't seem like Fisk even knew that he was involved, so maybe this time the Prowler wouldn't be sent after them? He still wanted to see his uncle, and he needed to talk to him. Get a few things out in the open, and just deal with any fallout that comes of it.

Even if Uncle Aaron wound up hating him… it would be worth it, as long as he stays alive.

Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Miles darted his eyes toward a snoring Peter before relaxing, slouching down in the seat. He still couldn’t tell if Peter was asleep or just pretending. Either way, the ride was pretty boring. There was barely anyone else on the bus, and the low sun coming in through the windows was making him tired.

It was just as he finally relaxed enough to lean his head against the cool glass that his spider senses went off.

He quickly set up, his eyes immediately darting around. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary at first, but then he looked towards the back of the bus and noticed someone striding towards them and oddly determined.

Miles realized with a jolt that it was Gwen coming up to them on the bus, carrying a very familiar desktop monitor. She must have gone to Alchemax and grabbed the information without them. A small part of him felt a tad vindictive that she wound up grabbing the monitor instead of trying to download everything just like he did, but a larger portion of him was panicking. Panicking because Gwen still went to Alchemax, she even went near Doc Ock, but this time she had been alone, and what if she got hurt-

"Hey."

Miles flinched, eyes snapping over to Peter, who was making an odd face at him, as Peter quickly pulled his hand off of Miles' shoulder.

"You okay?"

Miles was saved from answering as Gwen came to a stop right by their seats. Sitting down in the chair across from the both of them and laying the monitor next to her. Immediately his Spidey senses went off, telling him how she was  _ just like him _ . Peter sat up straight, staring at Gwen like he saw a ghost, while Gwen stared back at him, with the exact same expression on her face. They spoke at the same time.

"You're like me!"

Silence followed that statement, none of them speaking up for a couple of moments. Miles sat back, watching the other two and how they were staring at one another. Their grief was evident, and Miles didn't know how he didn't realize this the first time. Peter lost his Gwen Stacy… and Gwen lost her Peter Parker.

"My name is Gwen, Gwen Stacy. I'm guessing both of you are from another, another dimension like me?"

"Peter B Parker. Yeah, I showed up late last night, or was it very, very early this morning? Either way, I found the kid, and we're both planning on finding a way to send me– now I guess us, home."

Miles glanced between the two of them, slightly worried by how subdued they now were. 

"I'm not from another dimension. This is my universe."

"There is already a Spider-Man here, I know because I made sure to look into it when I first arrived."

Miles grimaced, "Er, yeah. He's sort of out of commission at the moment. So it looks like you guys are stuck with me helping you get back home."

Gwen looked surprised, "I wasn't, I wasn't saying that-"

"What do you mean out of commission?" Peter cut in.

"He got hurt real bad in a fight against the Green goblin and Fisk yesterday. He was trying to stop them from turning on the supercollider."

"Where is he?"

Miles shrugged, "Dunno. Mrs. Parker and May both agreed that it was for the best if they got him out of New York while all of this is going down. They don't want to risk anyone finding out who he is and going after him while he's still injured."

"Mrs. Parker?" Peter repeated an odd look on his face, and Miles remembered the issues this Peter had with his Mary Jane.

"You guys are heading to Queens then? To go see Aunt May?" Gwen asked impatiently.

Peter looked at Miles, "Is that where you're taking me?"

"Yeah, I thought we could use his computer to read the files on the goober and make sure everything looks right. Then we can try to find a way to change it a bit so that if you guys go into the supercollider, it will send you back home. To the right home."

Gwen nodded, "Sounds good to me. Maybe there is something on this monitor I took from Alchemax that can help us out."

"Why the heck did you take the whole monitor?" Peter asked incredulously, "Wouldn't it have been easier just to download the schematics?"

Gwen flushed, "...I didn't have the time! Doc Ock made an appearance, and I needed to get out before reinforcements arrived." Gwen did a double-take, her eyes latching onto Miles's forearm, "What happened to your arm?"

"Oh, uh…" Miles chuckled nervously, "It's just a small scratch. Already stopped bleeding and everything."

Peter grimaced, "We still need to get it cleaned up; it's not good if we just leave it full of germs. You don't know how many germs were on that balcony."

"Neither do you."

"Okay, but at least I know that it can't be clean. It's literally in the middle of New York, not to mention outside!" Peter lazily gestured outside the bus window, "You don't know how many pigeons pooped on there."

* * *

It wasn't until they were already standing before the front door that Peter broke his silence, "We should probably go."

"Peter, we’re literally on the doorstep." Gwen frowned, eyeing Peter worriedly.

"Bad idea, bad idea, this is a bad idea--"

"Just relax." Gwen cut off Peter's rambling, hesitantly reaching out and grasping at his shoulder reassuringly. "It'll be okay." 

"I don't think I can do this."

Miles pressed himself into Peter's side, startling the older man, but the longer he stayed there, the less tense Peter became.

"I'm sorry that I'm making you relive bad memories like this, your Aunt May… she's gone, right? So I'm sorry for making you come here, and you totally have my condolences-"

Peter lightly jabbed Miles in the side, "Listen-"

Peter snapped his mouth shut as his small jab caused Miles to cry out and twist away while reaching up to grab at his side.

"Whoa! What the hell? Are you hurt somewhere else?" Gwen demanded, shoving the monitor at Peter, "What the hell were you doing before we met up?"

Miles danced back out of reach of Gwen as she tried grabbing at his shirt, "I'm fine! I'm fine! I hit my back by accident a few hours ago, but I'm fine. Really."

"Holy shit, kid, you still haven't healed?"

Miles shrugged self-consciously. All of them turn their attention to the front door as it creaks open; Peter takes a step back as Aunt May appears in the doorway, staring intently at Peter.

"...Peter?"

“Hey, Aunt May…” Peter cleared his throat, “So this is going to sound crazy, but I’m pretty sure that I’m from an alternate dimension.”

“I had a feeling, you look identical to my Peter, only his hair is blond, and he’s a bit younger,” Aunt May frowned, one hand coming up to cup Peter’s cheek, “You look tired and older. And... thicker.”

Peter grins, “Did you just call me fat?”

Aunt May chuckled warmly, “Come in. All of you, it’s nice to see you again, Miles.”

Peter cocks his head, “You two know each other?”

“Yes, he brought my Peter home last night and- a-are those sweatpants?”

Gwen grinned, “Yep.”

Miles laughed as Peter pouted at them, rolling his eyes as he urged them all into the house.

“Well, if you’re all finished laughing at me, Aunt May, can you look the kid over?” Peter jerked his thumb over at Miles, “The kid’s hurt, and he isn’t healing like me.”

"What?" Aunt May shot Miles a hard stare, "I thought you said you weren't too badly injured."

"What are you talking about? He was injured before this?" Peter frowned, "The kid got hurt slamming into a building a few hours ago trying to catch my heavy a–butt."

“What? I noticed he was hurt when he brought Peter home last night. I offered to patch him up, but he left rather quickly. Sit down, and don’t move.” Aunt May whirled on Miles, gently but firmly guiding him over to the couch as she shouted over her shoulder for Peter to grab the medkit out of the kitchen pantry.

He tried not to make any noise, but even the tiny amount of pressure she put on his shoulders hurt.

With how quickly Peter came rushing back into the room with the first aid kit, Miles couldn't help but wonder if he ran. It would certainly explain why he came back so quickly and why he was a bit out of breath.

"Here. Here."

Peter pressed the first aid kit into Aunt May's hands and hovered over Miles' shoulder.

Aunt May turned towards Miles and ordered him to take his shirt off, and he couldn't help but feel highly uncomfortable in this situation.

"Uh…"

"What are you waiting for? It hurts, right? Just let her look you over."

Miles shifted on the couch, silently debating whether it was worth arguing with them.

"You guys," Gwen cut in, "you do realize he's a kid, right? Have you ever stopped to think in the past few minutes that maybe he's uncomfortable with taking his shirt off in front of three strangers?"

"Oh!" The stern glare on Aunt May's face softened, "I can send the others to wait in the kitchen, or we could go to the bathroom? I'm sorry, Miles, but I'll still need to see your back to see how bad it is."

"Oh, uh… I can— I can go to the bathroom?" Miles flushed, "I'll just… let you in after I take my shirt off?"

"Okay, just leave the door unlocked and knock when I can come in."

Miles shuffled over to the bathroom as quickly as he could go without further aggravating his injuries. His back end definitely didn't hurt as badly as it did before, so he had to have had some sort of healing ability. Regular people would be bound to the bed in the hospital. It was a bit harder taking his shirt off than he anticipated. He ended up having to sit down on the toilet lid and slowly start with reaching up to the straps of his tank top and slowly start pulling it up over his head. He tried his best not to hunch over too much or really move his head, but he did have to duck down a bit to pull it off all the way.

He might have taken a quick breather before knocking on the bathroom door, but it wasn't like anyone knew.

Aunt May quickly stepped into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She said the first aid kit on the counter by the sink before turning towards him and quietly asking him to try giving up and turning to straddle the toilet. Miles did as she asked, mentally congratulating himself on not yelping as the movement pulled at the skin on his back. None of them really said a word after that. Aunt May explained everything she was going to do before she did it, but Miles didn't really think she was trying to start a conversation, so he didn't respond. Instead, he spent the next couple of minutes focusing on his breathing and carefully keeping quiet. Just because they weren't in the bathroom didn't mean Peter and Gwen weren't in the other room listening in.

After what had to have been at least 10 minutes, Aunt May moved off to the side and sat down on the edge of the tub while pulling his injured arm into her lap.

Huh. With everyone else going on and focusing on his back, he forgot that he hurt his arm as well.

"How did this happen?"

"U–" as his voice cracked, Miles cleared his throat, "Peter started glitching mid-air, so I caught him, but I messed up the landing. Ended up cutting my arm open on a balcony on the way down."

Aunt May hummed, not speaking for a couple of minutes as she focused on pouring peroxide into the cut and cleaning everything up before putting antibiotic cream on it. 

It was as she started wrapping it up that she spoke, "Your hands are still injured."

"Y-Yeah…"

"You don't have fast healing like my Peter?"

Miles twisted slightly so that he could face Aunt May rather than the back of the toilet, "Uh, I mean, I definitely don't heal as fast as he does, but I think I do have accelerated healing. If I didn't, then I don't know how I'm moving around. If I was normal, then I shouldn't have been able to move after hitting my back like that. Plus, the cut on my arm definitely looks better than it did earlier."

"You do realize that just because you can heal faster than other people, that doesn't make you invincible." Aunt May quietly started cleaning up his hands, "I'm glad that you were there to help my Peter and that other Peter too… but you'll need to start looking after yourself too. I thought I would lose him. When you brought him back here, that was the most injured I've ever seen him. I don't want that to happen to you… does your family know? About your powers?"

Miles startled, "No! No. Uh, I actually haven't seen my parents since I got my powers. I literally just got them yesterday, a little while before I met Peter."

"You haven't gone home? Not even once these past two days?"

It was mainly because of how alarmed Aunt May looked that Miles rushed to reassure her, "No-no, it's okay, really. I live at my school during the week, so it's not like I would have seen them in the first place."

For some reason, that didn't make her look any happier. After that, she finished pretty quickly cleaning up the trash and putting the stuff back into the first aid kit. She ended up having to help him put his tank top back on, but he wasn't as embarrassed as he thought he would be. He was just glad he didn't have to worry about lifting his arms up himself.

"You can head back out to the living room. I'll grab you a jacket."

She left the bathroom before he could tell her no.

He was definitely more exhausted than ever; missing sleep was definitely screwing with him. He took his time slowly making his way back to the living room. For some reason, Gwen and Peter were avoiding looking at him… so they were listening in then. Did they think he was weak? For getting hurt as much as he did in such a short span of time? He hasn't even had his first fight yet, and he was already injured badly enough that it was messing with his walking. At least whatever cream she put on his back helped loosen the muscles. It was definitely a lot easier to move around. Plus, he should start healing soon...

After giving Miles a too big zip-up hoodie to wear, Aunt May leads them out through the backyard toward the garden shed. Miles blinks at it. 

Last time he didn't have the chance to look at it closely. No wonder it was so shocking to others. Why would anyone believe this run down shed was also some sort of lair for Spider-Man? As much as he wanted to use this opportunity to look around more, he was mostly trying not to panic or seem overly excited. He couldn't deny that he was excited though, he was excited and dreading meeting the others. He didn't realize until he met Gwen and Peter how badly them not knowing who he was would hurt. Even though he knew none of the others would recognize him, a small part of him hoped at least one of them would. Aunt May kicks the door open, and Miles snickered at the way Peter had jumped.

"Oh yeah, I got one of these too. A  little shed where I keep my spider gear-"

As the elevator opens, Aunt May turns and shoots Peter a look before gesturing for them all to get in.

"I mean, this place is pretty pretentious."

Miles smothered his grin behind his hand as the doors slid shut. As the elevator comes to a stop, his apprehension rises. Why haven't the others shown their faces yet? Did they wait this long last time, or did he mess up the timeline badly enough that the rest of the spiders never made it here? As he searches around them, Miles notices Peter walking closer to one of the desks and lifting up a picture frame. He walks a bit closer, trying not to get the others to see him move. It's a picture of… the Peter Parker and MJ of this universe.

Clearing his throat, Miles gestures at one of the Spider-Man outfits, "Hey Peter, I think this is a cape."

Peter turns toward him, smiling slightly.

Sadly, his attempt at breaking the tension building up in the room went unnoticed as Aunt May started speaking.

"Peter knows how dangerous this job  is," Aunt May looks around the room, fondly, "But he figured the only one  who could stop this guy was Spider-man. Looks like he was right."

Miles watches, vaguely curious as Aunt May digs around in her pockets before pulling out a small stack of stickers that say 'My name is' and a couple of markers. Grinning, Miles gently elbows Gwen and points them out to her.

Gwen frowns, "What are those for?"

Grinning with just a bit of mischief dancing in her eyes, Aunt May says, "You might need these. After all, you’re not the only people who thought to come here."

Four figures drop down in front of them, and immediately, Miles' spider Sense starts going off. Gwen stands up straight, and Peter pushes his way in front of both of them despite Gwen and his protests. Miles can't help but let his lips peel back into a large grin as Noir drops down into the light, only partially standing, mostly just his lower half, in the shadows. Noir's trench coat was open and billowing around him.

"Hey, fellas."

Gwen frowned, "Is he in black and white?"

"Where is that wind coming from?" Peter asked, exasperation evident, "We’re in a basement."

Noir's hand clenched into a fist by his side, "Wherever I go, the wind follows, and the wind smells like rain."

Miles in the others startle as the sound of machinery echoes around them. He watches as Peni drops down in front of them.

"Hi guys! Konichiwa! Hajimemashita

yoroshuku?"

SP//dr drops down behind her, the loud thud echoing throughout the room.

"This could literally not get any weirder."

Oh, God. Would it look bad if he started laughing? Miles didn't want Peter to think he was laughing at him or anything, but this really was ridiculous. Ham walks out of the shadows to stand next to Peter. For a moment, no one says anything, then Ham sticks out his hand for Peter to shake.

Ham grins at Peter, "It CAN get weirder! I just washed my hands, that's why they’re wet. No other reason."

All of their spider senses go off, and Miles shivers as a chill goes through him. We're all of their spider senses bouncing off of each other? Is that why the feeling when they first meet is so overwhelming?

All of them take a deep breath in and breathe out contemporaneously, "You’re like me."

"Where are you guys from?" Gwen asks, "I mean, Peter, Miles, and I all have similar universes… and, er, you guys look a bit different."

"In my universe, it’s 1933, and I’m a  private eye," Noir says, "I like to drink egg  creams, and I like to fight Nazis. A  lot."

Peni waves at them happily, "I am from New York in the year 3145. I have a psychic link with a spider who lives inside my father’s robot, and we’re best friends. Forever."

Ham jumps up onto the closest rolling chair, spinning it around as he answers, "I’m a photographer for the Daily Beagle. When I’m not pooching around, I’m working like a dog trying to sniff out the latest story. I frolic, and I dance, and I do this with my pants–"

"Ok, that's enough!" Peter turns to Noir, "So, uh, how did you get here?"

"Well, it’s kind of a long story. We showed up just before the explosion, landing in New York we immediately made our way here… maybe not that long."

Peni steps away from Sp//dr and points at the desk with multiple computer screens up and running, "And now we’re just trying to find a way home."

"The only way home is back through

the collider gizmo. The only trouble is-"

Ham cuts Noir off, "One of us has to stay behind and destroy it."

Almost immediately, the others all begin fighting over who will stay behind to shut off the collider. Miles frowns at them. He'd forgotten how… eager everyone was to offer themselves as a sacrifice. It was unsettling. Did they all really have that low self-worth? Suddenly, everyone begins to glitch, each of them crying out in pain, and Miles feels a familiar itch settle over him. Eyes widening, Miles fought down the urge. He couldn't start glitching. Not now, not when the others could see it. He hadn't glitched once this entire time since he's been back. He assumed that since he was technically back in his universe, the glitching would go away… apparently not.

"Hey. Hey! None of you can stay here. I’m the guy who’s going to turn it off, and I’m going to get you all home before I do. Look, I promise I'll get you guys home. No matter what." Miles says quietly once everyone has settled down, "This is my universe; it's not like it will kill me like it will you guys if you stayed behind. Why take any unnecessary risks?"

Though, he wasn't entirely sure how true that statement was anymore.

No matter what happened, he went to whatever it takes to make sure everyone survives this fight and makes it home by the end.

It took a couple of questions from Peni and Noir before they all started talking about possible plans.

He wasn't sure how to feel about the current situation. Were none of them going to try and fight him? What did he do that was so different from last time? Last time around, they definitely didn't have any reservations about ganging up on him… was it because rather than blending in with the background while all the others spoke, he actually joined in on the conversation? Did speaking up frankly make that much of a difference?

"Miles?" Peter whispers, glancing around the room, "Where did you go?"

"I'm right here."

"Where? I can’t see you."

"I’m right in front of you," Miles smiles, "I kind of have this-this ability to turn invisible."

Peter blinked, "...Not really an ability people have in my universe."

"Well, we don't live in the same universe, man. There's probably a lot of differences between them if we take the time to actually figure it out."

"So why are you hiding?"

"What?" Miles frowned, shifting closer to Peter and lowering his voice, "I'm not hiding."

"Uh, yeah, you are, bud. You vanished the moment the others started arguing about the plan."

Miles stayed silent. 

"Are… are you scared?"

"Of course I'm scared," Miles said, "I'm scared that something might go wrong, and I won't be able to get you guys home. If you guys don't get home soon, then you're going to die. I don't want any of you to die…"

Peter hums quietly, watching the others for a moment before motioning for Miles to follow him outside. Once they are out, Peter leads them away from the house to lean against the fence over by the shed.

"You mind dropping that whole invisibility thing you got going on? We can talk out here without the others seeing or listening in. Well, they could be listening in. Super hearing. Both a blessing and a curse."

Miles slowly came back into view, "What did you want to talk about, Dude?"

"First off, don't call me dude. I'm Peter."

"Well, technically, so are the others, except one is a girl, one is a pig, and the other is literally black and white."

Peter rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, I'm the first Peter you met, so I'll be Peter. Peni is Peni, and the others we can call something else."

"We can call the black and white Spider-Man, Noir?" Miles hummed, "and how about we call Spider-Pig, Ham?"

"... I'm not sure if that's offensive or not, but I guess it's better than calling three of us by the same name."

"Okay, and I'll call you Peter for now, but if you're around while my universe's Spider-Man is nearby, then I'll just call you B."

"What?" Peter frowned, "Does that mean you're going to call him Peter? Why?"

"Well, I did meet him before you, and I knew him as both Spider-Man, the name Peter so it's not like I can just call you both by the same name when you want me to call you and the other Peters; by different names." Miles grinned, "Besides, you don't really have to worry about it. We will get you home soon, so it's not like you'll be meeting Peter anyway. He's still healing up."

"... So, I hear you brought my Doppelganger here?" Peter hesitated, "That was how you hurt your hands? Mind telling me what the h—heck happened?"

"What?"

"I-yeah, okay. Let's start with this. How did you find the other me?"

Sighing, Miles briefly met Uncle Ben’s gaze, wincing at the gentle yet encouraging look thrown his way before carefully shifting around to lean back against Peter’s side. The pressure on his back did more harm than good, but if he was going to explain everything that happened the other night, then he was allowed to leech some of Peter’s warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of this story, near the end of the first chapter, once the into the spider verse timeline starts;  
> Peter Parker - 26yrs old.  
> Peter B. Parker - 33yrs old.  
> Peter Benjamin Parker (Noir) - 27yrs old.  
> Peter Porker - 26yrs old.  
> Gwen Stacy- 15yrs old.  
> Peni Parker- 14yrs old.  
> Miles Morales - 13yrs old.


End file.
